Immigrant: USA Becoming What I Escaped

RUSH: Isabel, one of my all-time top 10 favorite female names. Isabel in Fort Myers, Florida, great to have you on Open Line Friday. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thank you so much. This is unbelievable. This is the way I want to finish my week.

RUSH: I’m glad you got through.

CALLER: Thank you. You just framed my whole point so beautifully throughout your show. I’m a Hispanic, five years US citizen. One of the things that infuriates me and sometimes logically I don’t understand, is why many of the Hispanics who live in the United States, who left our countries because they are corrupted, because the politicians promised the moon, the stars and all the planets and never come through. They do it every year and they take your money away. They put poor roads, no services, nothing works, right?

We already have been down that road, talking about generations, in all the Latin American countries. And we come here thinking this is the land where I can flourish. This is the land where my talents are going to be rewarded because I work hard and I have good ethics. And we go and vote behind those same demagogues, populists and corrupt politicians like the current administration. So that is the piece that I get very, how can I say? Passionate. Mad. Disappointed. And everything in between. That we are still that gullible by our own wrong decisions, wrong judgments, right?

RUSH: Wait, wait. Isabel, are you essentially saying that this country is becoming as corrupt or is on its way to becoming as corrupt as the countries you left and wanted to escape, is that what you’re saying?

CALLER: I’m seeing it, and it’s sad. I talk to my friends and my family here, and I say, “Do you see that it’s exactly what happened 20 years ago in Venezuela? Do you see that it is what happened (unintelligible) Colombia started. Do you see that is how the drug dealers in Latin America work, buying the government?” I just see that we are slowly but surely, the United States of America, a country where it used to be ruled by the law, now the law becomes a moving target and depends and covers whomever plays the game better. I’m seeing it and it’s so sad. The only difference between the American politicians and many of the Latin American politicians is that the ones here, they speak good English. That’s it.

RUSH: Well, there’s no question that it’s got to be frustrating to people like you. I mean, you have come here because you wanted to escape. You wanted to escape a number of things, poverty, corruption, economic distress, you come here — this is the shining city on a hill. This is the place on earth everybody wants to come. Nobody wants to leave this country. Although more people renouncing their citizenship today than ever before, but we’ll leave that aside for the moment. This is the place that everybody wants to come. And it’s a sad reality, Isabel, that not everybody came here for the same reasons you did.

Not everybody’s coming here for the same reasons you did. Some are coming here because it’s a giant hammock. There are as many reasons as there are people. But I can imagine the disappointment you faced. And a lot of us feel the same way. See what’s happening to the country. And the real thing about it that bothers so many of us — I don’t know if this is affecting you, but so many of us look out over the landscape and don’t see that many people that care about it. Anyway, I appreciate the call, Isabel. Thanks very much.